Executive coach, change consultant, author

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It’s been over a month since I’ve shared a podcast episode or blog post. How are you doing? What questions are on your mind?

Here are three questions that I’ve been wrestling/playing with in different domains of my life:

Executive coaching. How can I support and challenge leaders to practice new conversations on the job?

For the past fifteen years, my work has been guided by a simple premise: all the leadership wisdom in the world matters little unless it shows up in how leaders speak and listen on the job.

How do you know you are a better leader? By shifting the conversations you have and quality of presence you bring to them.

The challenge is how to do this in organizations that devalue preparation, reflection, and feedback (three phases of what I call the “on-the-job practice cycle,” the fourth phase being action); with bosses who rarely had role models for this themselves; and in a culture that squeezes out the inner life.

It’s a big hairy challenge!

Here’s one experiment I’ve been inviting leaders to try:

Designate a specific meeting each day as a practice field. Mark it on your calendar.

Start that meeting by quickly grounding in the body.

Look for opportunities in that meeting to practice specific words, body movement, and breath.

Ask a trusted colleague to give you feedback shortly after the meeting about the specific actions you want them to observe. Ideally, ask them in advance so they are prepared.

Briefly reflect in writing after the meeting—or at the next brief break—about what happened and what you can learn from it.

What can I do to increase the frequency and quality of this practice? What visual, auditory or kinesthetic cues could help? Is there an iPhone app for this?

Organizational consulting. In working with an entire organization, where do my interventions have the greatest impact?

During my first ten professional years, I exclusively consulted. During the second ten years, I did mostly one-on-one executive coaching. The past few years have seen a mix of the two. I’ve worked with entire leadership teams, advised executives and HR about system-wide succession planning and leadership development, shadow coached teams in action, and simply hung around waiting for people to pull me over for a question or request.

I think of these less as services than as experiments in having impact.

Where is my time best spent—and who gets to decide this? How do I assess requests coming my way, and what guides me in making counteroffers and new offers? Since I have to make a living and like being respected, how do money and public identity play into all of this?

Public Calling. In the age of DJT (my abbreviation for the current U.S. president’s name), how might I redirect my energy toward a better global future?

I’ve made no secret of my opinion of the current President and the grave threat he brings each day he remains in office. A lot of my writing and podcasting has been devoted to this topic. And for years, I’ve felt dedicated to promoting clean energy, slowing global warming, and supporting community resilience. Yet with a few notable exceptions, these commitments have shown up more in my public voice than in my day-to-day client work, and my public participation itself has been sporadic and, by my assessment, of negligible impact.

So, looking at the next six months—and, beyond that, the next few years—what’s possible? How might these commitments find expression in my coaching and consulting? If I were to invest more time on my public voice, what forms might this take? How about a daily podcast devoted to high-quality interviews on topics of broad public interest (likely at the intersection of politics and leadership) to attract listeners and sponsors?

These are three questions on my mind today.

Next week: questions about three other domains: friendship, parenting, and presence

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“When you work with Amiel, you get someone who knows when to challenge you and when to provide support, and who creates a program that is unmistakably for you rather than generic executive X. We worked together during a pivotal time in my organization’s history, when a crisis hit and our people needed a clear sense of direction and a compelling story to grab onto. Amiel helped me create both. Perhaps best of all, his support helped me renew my commitment to bringing my full energy to work each day and ensuring the rest of our people could do the same."

"Amiel, I have deeply appreciated your friendship, coaching, and guidance over the last few years. Our work together has changed me in the way that pervades everything that I do in my life. You have had a way of letting me learn for myself, which is very important when dealing with someone as strong-headed as me. I thank you for understanding the complexity of life and for listening deeply, something that very few people do."

"My favorite moment in sailing occurs when the sails are up, my course is set, and I lift my hand from the helm to find the boat is balanced. In that moment, I have achieved a zen-like balance where the heavens, wind, and water are in perfect harmony while I leverage them to get where I am going. Amiel revealed the secret that enabled me to create a similar harmony at work for myself and the people I work with. Just as I leveraged the environment in sailing, I now leverage my strengths in a bigger way and speak about the innovations we are creating with passion and authenticity. Now I am making large strides in preserving the environment I sail in, not just for me now but the future."

"The year I worked with Amiel was one of the most transformational in my adult life. With Amiel’s support, I learned to do three things that I (and my staff) didn’t at first think possible: slow down enough to truly listen to others’ ideas, empower my staff to succeed, and smile—a lot! The regular live shadowing and Amiel’s forthright feedback made a particularly big difference for me and for my team. I couldn’t recommend Amiel more highly."

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“When you work with Amiel, you get someone who knows when to challenge you and when to provide support, and who creates a program that is unmistakably for you rather than generic executive X. We worked together during a pivotal time in my organi...

Rick C.Senior Fellow and General Manager, Fortune 100 company

“Amiel, I have deeply appreciated your friendship, coaching, and guidance over the last few years. Our work together has changed me in the way that pervades everything that I do in my life. You have had a way of letting me learn for myself, whic...